[Exalted] First session -- wahoo!

So, after about two years of talking about it, I finally bit the bullet and ran a game of Exalted on the weekend. We played the Tomb of 5 Corners module, or at least it was the Tomb of 5 Corners module before I took Stephenls' suggestion and expanded it out into five separate locations, one for each caste. This made it a lot more interesting, and also gave more opportunities for people to bounce around the place, off tree branches, walls, mammoth skeletons, etc.

The following will kinda sorta maybe contain spoilers for T5C, but then 1) as stated above, I ripped it to shreds anyway and 2) there's not much in T5C to spoil in the first place.

All in all, everyone involved had a great time, even those who wouldn't usually like the White Wolf style. For me, it was exactly the sort of feel I've been looking for in an RPG: plenty of furious, OTT action, with people jumping from tree to tree as they float down the rivers of British Columbia like something out of Ninja Scroll. We were running out of time towards the end, but I did manage to throw in fights with some hapless bandits, flaming zombies, ice zombies, a shapechanging demon and his (her?) blood ape cronies, a mammoth zombie, Barrow Black the bandit king (twice), and Evil Traitor Girl With The Monstrously Long Name. I also managed to compare Nexus to Greyhawk, mention meteor swarm, fireball, disintegrate and wall of force, and throw in a bunch of other D&D references besides. Who says we're not all playing the same game?

Here's what we did:

There are 4 pregenerated PCs, Kade the Dawn caste (tank), Morning Fresh Breeze the Zenith caste (monk), Naria the Night caste (ninja), and Rinan the Twilight caste (sorc). The module centers around the PCs raiding the tombs of their previous incarnations, to retrieve their signature artifacts. Yeah, yeah, kill the monsters and take their stuff, if you want to put it that way.

I started the game in media res, with the PCs facing off against the evil bandit king Barrow Black after having killed/driven off his followers. They dealt with him easily enough, although the first couple of rounds was more like everyone fumbling around with the system. Then Morning Fresh Breeze used his caste power to burn the dead body, which I kinda forgot about (more about this below).

The module proper started a year after that. They were sitting in a tavern when a stranger approached them. Everybody resisted the temptation to quote the Dead Alewives sketch, even me. Actually, no, sorry, I believe I did quote the Dead Alewives. Oh well.

After some talking, the stranger, whose name was Little Shoe, said he had been asked to take them to the Tomb of 5 Corners to meet their circlemate (the circle should have 5 characters, but there's only 4 PCs). So they got on the railroad.

At the tomb, they fought a couple of zombies (easy peasy), and 12 bandits. The bandits might have been tricky, but they were even more easy peasy, due to a Death of Obsidian Butterflies spell hitting them as they charged down the passage to engage the party. Redecorating a dungeon with the giblets of the bad guys is a hallowed D&D tradition, and clearly even more so in Exalted.

The Tomb of 5 Corners should technically be one central chamber (the Sun chamber), with 5 exits leading off to separate rooms holding the bodies of the PCs' previous selves. Instead, I had the exits lead to five teleport portals. The Dawn portal took them to a volcano in the fiery south of Creation, where they fought the zombie ex-Kade and his seven fiery zombie followers. The Zenith portal took them to the bigass mountain on the Blessed Isle. No fights here, just a stone circle holding a shrine to the Unconquered Sun. The Twilight portal took them to a mountain far in the wooded east, covered with the biggest trees they'd ever seen. Here they fought a demon that materialised shadowy blades from its arms Wolverine-style, and two blood apes. The Night portal took them to a mountainous isle in the west, and the Eclipse portal took them to a mountain far in the frigid north.

Basically somebody made an offhand comment early on about visiting lots of mountains, and I just ran with it. It also fit in well with the five sacred Daoist mountains of China, so I was happy.

On the Eclipse leg, they met their lost circlemate, Evil Traitor Girl With The Monstrously Long Name, riding a zombie mammoth. With her was her undead buddy, the ghost Barrow Black. The players were a bit miffed (heh) that I forgot they'd cleansed his body the first time round. Oh well, it put them in the right frame of mind to thoroughly kick his ass a second time.

ETGWTMLN called for them to join her in service to the Mask of Winters. The player running Kade decided to be a clever dick, and said "yeah, I'll do it!" So I took him at his word.... I was basically pulling all this out of my ass, so I just called for opposed Cha+Presence rolls, and he flubbed it badly. Then one of the other players alerted me to the fact that her caste power is, in fact, basically forcing people to keep their word. I think I had an epiphany. Is that the right word? Maybe "orgasm" is a better word.

Somehow they still managed to win the day, even with their main firepower taken out of the fight for the first few rounds. Quite amazing, but I'm not going to question it....

I'm glad you had fun.

Just remember your Gearhead DM license does have an expiration date. I've heard some of those White Wolf games can be played without a solid knowledge of algebra. The very notion makes me shudder.

I am glad to read you found Exalted fun. So have I! My group has been playing it for about six months, and it has gone well! It has been a lot of fun!

I also cannabilized T5C as well! I used the maps and ideas, but not the specific characters. At least, not yet. I am hoping to set up the idea of the returned bandit later in the campaign.

Anyway, it is game night for me! So, more Exalted goodness!

Have a good one! Take care!

edg

Good to hear another Exalted convert has been created.

hong said:

At the tomb, they fought a couple of zombies (easy peasy), and 12 bandits. The bandits might have been tricky, but they were even more easy peasy, due to a Death of Obsidian Butterflies spell hitting them as they charged down the passage to engage the party. Redecorating a dungeon with the giblets of the bad guys is a hallowed D&D tradition, and clearly even more so in Exalted.

Click to expand...

So, who ended up with the unenvyable job of cleaning up the obsidian butterflies so they could all enter the tomb without be cut to death?

ETGWTMLN called for them to join her in service to the Mask of Winters. The player running Kade decided to be a clever dick, and said "yeah, I'll do it!" So I took him at his word.... I was basically pulling all this out of my ass, so I just called for opposed Cha+Presence rolls, and he flubbed it badly. Then one of the other players alerted me to the fact that her caste power is, in fact, basically forcing people to keep their word. I think I had an epiphany. Is that the right word? Maybe "orgasm" is a better word.

Click to expand...

Exalted Rule #29, never shake on it!

I bought the book (half off), but haven't had a chance to play.

Ooh, this is making me antsy, though...